have you ever used a wood cutting board? its the same thing... they probably (hopefully) coated it with a food safe varnish. We are having a tree trunk cake base made and it will have a food safe coating so we can put cake directly on top.

I had a local woodworker (Jill, he's in Greenfield) watch for a large round circle from a cut tree for me. It took him a few months to get the size I wanted. It has LOTS of coats of finish on it for me, including the sides, to seal the wood.

I have just started watching Cake Boss and that was the first thing I noticed too. They make all their big specialty type cakes directly on boards that appear to have no sealants of any type. My dh said they look like masonite. I was wondering how that could be food safe?

Thanks Debi, I have a cake coming up next month, and I am putting it on a slab of wood too. Was wondering how to do this. My husband is going to cut the round for me, but was worried about bugs hiding inside, so you sealed the wood, that is a great idea.

Yeah, it's pretty funny because we got rid of our cable 2 years ago so we don't even watch the show. From what she tells me though you might only see her in the background as she obviously isn't part of the main cast.

@jayne...I know what my wife will say. Don't you dare! She tries to avoid the camera when they are filming. You do catch a quick glimpse of her in the season permier episode. When I say quick glimpse I mean "magnifying glass, if you blink you'll miss her" quick glimpse. lol. She's on Cake Central too her handle is Cakemommie.